Lupine in Bloom at Kehoe Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore

The yellow bush lupine is in full bloom at Point Reyes National Seashore, and the park's coastal scrub is carpeted in yellow. This photo is a view of the Great Beach of Point Reyes, looking south over the dunes along the trail to Kehoe Beach.

View more landscape images from Point Reyes National Seashore.

Yellow bush lupine (with bug), Point Reyes National Seashore

A branch of blooming yellow bush lupine, complete with a cute bug crawling on the top flower, along the trail to Kehoe Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore. The backdunes and coastal scrub at Point Reyes are turning yellow, as these lovely blooms paint the landscape.

View more images from the Kehoe Beach area of Point Reyes National Seashore.

Bridalveil Fall after late spring snow, Yosemite National Park

Returning back to some images from our mid-May trip to Yosemite National Park that included a late season snowfall for our last day there. This is Bridalveil Fall, as seen from across the river. The fall was flowing beautifully during our visit. In fact, we got quite wet on the short hike to its base, and you can see the cloud of mist rising above the trees in this image. For some perspective, Bridalveil Fall has a height of 620 feet.

More images from this trip are in my Yosemite Gallery.

Yosemite Falls in Fog, Yosemite National Park

Yosemite Falls is a beautiful waterfall, and when all of the individual falls are considered together, it's considered the 5th tallest waterfall in the world. In these images, the Upper and Lower Falls are visible, as seen from across the valley floor. With the high water flows this spring, there are some nice seasonal pools forming on the valley floor, which can make for great reflections as well. These images are both HDR blends of 3 exposures.



See more in my Yosemite National Park Gallery.

El Capitan and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park

Two iconic rock faces in Yosemite National Park -- El Capitan on the left and Half Dome on the right. Our only views of an unobstructed Half Dome came on our drive into the park on the first day, and after this, it remained covered in clouds.

See more in my Yosemite Landscapes Gallery.

Tunnel View during spring storm, Yosemite National Park

A classic view of Yosemite National Park from Tunnel View. The weather during this quick trip was fantastic with a mix of sun, rain, and late season snow, and this shot was taken just as a hailstorm opened up above us and moved across the valley. For those curious about the technical aspects of this image, it's an HDR blend of 4 exposures.

View more of my landscape images.

Happy Easter 2011!

A wild Douglas iris bathed in warm sunrise light from the Chimney Rock area in Point Reyes National Seashore last spring to celebrate Easter! Best wishes to you and yours on this joyous holiday!

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More wildflower images in my Flowers & Plants Gallery

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day! I hope you all get a chance to experience the beauty of our planet today, and remember how important it is to take good care if it. Here's a colorful sunrise from January to commemorate this special day. It's taken from Limantour Road in Point Reyes National Seashore, looking towards the sandstone cliffs of Drake's Beach.

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View more coastal landscapes in my Point Reyes National Seashore Landscapes gallery.

Elephant seal silhouette, Año Nuevo State Reserve

The backlit shape of a male northern elephant seal at sunset. This is certainly not my traditional style of photography, but they have a wonderful form when they are reared up like this, and I couldn't help but to snap off a few frames when the opportunity arose.

Quail on a Fence Post, Point Reyes National Seashore

Here's a quick break from the steady stream of elephant seals I've been posting lately. This is a handsome California quail perched on a fence post along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Point Reyes National Seashore.



I find these birds to be so strikingly beautiful, with an amazing array of patterns on their body. They're quite common to find along the main road, and I took these shots out of an open car window. I have had success getting out of the car without spooking quail before, but I decided not to try my luck this time. I might have preferred a better backdrop than just the overcast sky, but at least it doesn't distract the eye from the details of their plumage.

Enjoying the sunset, Año Nuevo State Reserve

A quieter moment on the beach compared with my previous post of this guy. Even though they are huge, I still think they can have the cute expression of a friendly dog -- and I swear I can see him smiling in this one while he enjoys the sunset!

The sounds of the northern elephant seal, Año Nuevo State Reserve

One of the most fun parts of watching the northern elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Reserve is when a large bull decides to make his presence known on the beach. We stopped by this bull around sunset, since he was really going at it. In addition to pulling up into the posture that they use for fighting -- they get into some serious fights over dominance by pulling up like this and swinging their necks at each other, then when they make contact, they bite and tear with those big teeth -- they make a unique vocalization that can be heard from quite a distance away. It's sort of like a burping/gurgling sound, but thanks to my wife I don't have to try to describe it better, since she took a video clip while we were on the beach.




As you saw in the video, once they are done displaying, they'll flop back to the ground and look rather peaceful again. This makes for some interesting poses as they come back towards the sand, and I think they look kind of cute with that droopy face.

Resting beauty, Año Nuevo State Reserve

Two shots of a male northern elephant seal resting on the beach at sunset in Año Nuevo State Reserve. Its fun to watch them display and make their very unique vocalizations, but most of the time they are just relaxing in the sand.

Here come the elephant seals, Año Nuevo State Reserve

Last weekend was our annual trip to Año Nuevo State Reserve to see the northern elephant seals. We had a terrific trip, and I came home with some images that I'm pretty excited about. Thus, there will likely be a lot of big marine mammals on the blog this week. I'm just so fascinated by these awesome creatures!



Here are two shots to get things started while I work my way through the pile. This is a bull on Loser's Beach making his presence known around sunset. I like the first image slightly more since the eye is a bit more visible, but the second one shows him stretched a bit taller with the nose a tad more prominent (I know, pretty subtle differences). This guy was no where near the largest of the bulls we saw, but he was the most photogenic.



And since making-of images are always fun, here's a shot taken by my wife of me behind the lens photographing this male. The rule at the reserve is to stay at least 25 feet away from the seals at all times, but I'm not sure that I would ever want to get that close!

Great Blue Heron at Sunset

This great blue heron was hunting out on the mudflats of Pillar Point Harbor last November.

Three sanderlings?

When I was flipping through the files I had already processed from this trip to pick one to upload for today, something new caught my eye in this frame. The tail feathers off to the side of the left-most sanderling actually belong to a second bird behind it. Other than a slight tilt in angle towards me, the front bird could have completely blocked out the back bird. Now I'll have to look through my archives again to see if I have a frame where this is the case. This shot is from an awesome morning spent at Limantour Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore with a huge flock of sandpipers.

I also wanted to mention that Jim Goldstein posted the results for his annual blog project of 2010 Favorites. Over 160 of his readers submitted their personal favorite images of the past year (myself included) and he put together a list with a link to each one. If you have some time and want to see some great images, its definitely worth checking them out!

Resting peeps

Group shots of shorebirds can be challenging, as you need to find an interesting subject to frame, and also a pleasing formation of birds to make up the rest of the image. Here are two shots that I haven't decided yet where I stand with them -- they both had potential, but also have some flaws.



In the first shot, I like how the birds are arranged and overall I like the composition. However, the front-most western sandpiper is just outside of the focus, which can be a bit distracting compared to the sharp sanderling that is the focal point for my eyes.



For the second shot I changed the apeture to increase the depth of field (f/8 to f/11) so that the front western sandpiper is now in focus enough to be less of a distraction. However, I don't quite like the arrangement of the birds as much from this vantage point. I do like the depth provided by the crowd in the background of this shot, though.

What do you think?


Submitted as part of the World Bird Wednesday blog meme -- Follow the link to check out the entries for this week!

Feeding avocet, reflected

Under very heavy fog on a December morning, I had the pleasure of watching a group of avocets feed on the newly exposed mudflats in Bothin Marsh in Marin County. I enjoy shooting in overcast light, but on this day it was almost too dreary, even for me. But when I have a chance to spend time with elegant birds like these, I just can't help myself and I continued to watch and fire off frames. While I wish this one came out just a bit sharper (challenging to do in bad light since they feed by swinging their bills side to side through the mud), I really liked the reflection. The distoration from the disturbed water almost makes it look like a second bird is angrily looking back at the first.

As an aside, this trail can be a fun place to shoot, since its a really heavily used section of the Bay Trail. That means that the birds are used to people passing by so they're fairly willing to stay close, but also, its fun to see how people react to seeing someone lying in the dirt along the trail photographing birds. During my time with the avocets and pintails on this day, I had a handful of people looking on at various points when I glanced back over my shoulder. Some of them would quickly glance away and start walking, likely pretending that they weren't that interested in what I was doing. Many, though, gave me a smile or an occasional wave -- the kind that you know they are chuckling in their heads at the crazy guy sitting in the mud!

Resting elephant seal, Año Nuevo State Reserve

One more shot from the archives of my 2010 trip to Año Nuevo State Reserve. This is another male northern elephant seal resting on Loser's Beach in the reserve. You can see an additional male in the backdrop of this image, its the brownish blob near the cliff base.



In February I posted a portrait of this particular seal, which is one of my favorite shots of these guys. As I mentioned at the time, they are often regarded as loud, aggressive beasts (which they can be at times), but I like to show off their more relaxed side, since they spend a lot of their time resting.

Año Nuevo Beach Scene

The density of elephant seals in the breeding colony at Año Nuevo State Reserve is pretty interesting. Here you can see a group of mothers with their pups (the cute little black ones) together on the beach. They more or less stay about one biting-distance away from each other, and we saw a few arguments break out between females that got too close to another one's pup. Likely there would be one beachmaster bull that has control of this harem, although other bulls will stay around the edges to take advantage of an opportunity, should it arise. This likely also accounts for when the seals stay so close, since the male will herd the females together into his territory on the beach. The pups are awfully cute when they are born, and soon enough they'll be over 300 pounds! I wrote a short post about their amazing first few months with some close-up shots of the pups in a previous post, if you are interested.